A whole lot of shaking this week in the pop realm. Friendly Fires are campaigning for relevance, Britney Spears gets a remix fist bump a la Salem, Black Keys continue their massive cash-in, Gaga continues her Biblical kick, Seapony trends with “Blue Star” and Tyler the Creator’s Goblin leaked onto the blogs some five days before release. I’m sure that this all surmounts to a larger picture that I’m not seeing, but who has time for such trivialities when there is the week in pop to round up in no particular order.
And say, what does anyone know about those folks from Degrees? They have this song on their bandcamp called “Dream on Dreamy” that does those cool Vince Clarke Roland sequencing that made you love synth pop to begin with. Also featured on their bandcamp is the popped up “Oakland Mountain High,” and the best track title we’ve heard all week, “At Least Rock and Roll Won’t Leave a Hole in My Back.”
San Francisco’s the Soft Moon has a little mini doc thanks to the folks at YoursTru.ly and Audyssey where you get to hear and see Luis Vasquez hype up SF, radical thinking, “day mutants,” synthesizers and their many merits of sound capabilities and much more.
So is UK grime still relevant? Seems like every time I hear something about grime it pertains to Blackout Crew putting a donk on things, Mike Skinner and the Streets prepping their final show this October, and Wiley and Dizzee Rascal is god-knows-where and then we have Money. He seems to be keeping it real, keeping it grimey and putting out mixtapes in the hopes that maybe us yanks will eventually “get it,” perhaps even imitate it in our own domestic hip hops brands as if we didn’t already have enough on our plates. Regardless, I welcome any glimpse into the underground hip hop world that exists across the pond with our colonial cousins. Happy to hear that P Money is at least holding it down, kind of sad whenever a sub-genre of anything fades away to obscurity. Hear for yourself, listeners.
What better way to premiere a music video than dialing up the good people at the IFC channel, who have proclaimed themselves to have been “keepin’ it indie since 1994.” With a brand like that, how could Times New Viking refuse? View “Ever Falling In Love” here.
And to continue reveling in all things indolent, oceanic, wavy and “chill,” here’s another peak from Washed Out’s upcoming Sub Pop big to-do album Within and Without called “Eyes Be Closed.” Who knows, maybe this will be the big album that will knock Neon Indian Alan Palomo, Chaz Bundick and Ariel Pink from their high “chillwave” horses. But despite Pink’s latest behavioral issues, he probably has chiller sub-genre-originator-cred by virtue of timeline/chronologies than any of the aforementioned dudes. If for nothing else, have you heard that Dam Funk remix of “Friday Nights?” What do you mean no?
Charles Bradley has done an impressive working on “Heart of Gold”, which came out earlier this week. Check out this live performance, where Bradley pours both heart and soul into one of the most earnest covers of this Neil Young classic that I have heard in recent memory. “Heart of Gold” is availablenow on 45 via Daptone whereas a digital copy can be found through iTunes, eMusic, Napster, Rhapsody and Amazon.
Bradley is also slated to play “Golden Rule” on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight but if you would like a preview then look no further than this following youtube video that features Bradley and his vintage brew of funk.
Catch Charles Bradley on the road:
May
06 Oakland, CA – The New Parish
07 San Francisco, CA – Brick & Mortar
June
25 Paris, France – Solidays Festival
26 Donegal, Ireland – Sea Sessions Surf Music Festival
28 Arendal, Norway – Hove Festival
July
01 Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival
02 Montreux, Switzerland – Montreux Jazz Festival
03 Arras, France – Main Square Festival
05 Paris, France – La Maroquinerie
06 London, England – Barbican Centre (W/Sharon Jones + The Dap-Kings)
07 London, England – O2 Academy Islington (Co-Headline W/Budos Band)
09 Rotterdam, Netherlands – North Sea Jazz Festival
11 Nice, France – Nice Jazz Festival
12 Vienna, Austria – Jazz Fest Wien
14 Dour, Belgium – Festival De Dour
15 Hultsfred, Sweden – Hultsfred Festival
16 Pori, Finland – Pori Jazz Festival
17 Cascais, Portugal – Parque Marechal Carmona
26 Brooklyn, NY – Fort Greene Park
.29 Montreal, QC – Osheaga Festival Musique Et Arts
30 – Sackville, NB – Sappy Fest
August
14 San Francisco, CA – Outside Lands Music Festival
In case you hadn’t heard, our friends Sonny and the Sunsets have just made a music video for “Reflections on Youth.” Here you get to watch Sonny and the gang playing in a warehouse, with Sonny reflecting upon the halcyon days of futures past with a little help from his friends.
Here are some more tour dates for Sonny and the Sunsets.
June
04 Huichica Festival – Sonoma, CA
22-25 Sled Island Festival – Calgary, ALB
27 Waldorf Cabaret – Vancouver, BC *
28 The Funhouse – Seattle, WA !
July
01 Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA !
07 Soda Bar – San Diego, CA with Wounded Lion
08 The Echo – Los Angeles, CA with Wounded Lion
22 Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL !
23 Pike Room – Pontiac, MI !
24 Sneaky Dee's – Toronto, ON !
26 Divan Orange – Montreal, QC !
27 North Star Bar – Philadelphia, PA !
28 DC9 – Washington, DC !
29 Mercury Lounge – New York, NY !
30 Glasslands – Brooklyn, NY !
August
05- 07 Pickathon – Happy Valley, OR
* = w/ Hunx and his Punx, Shannon and the Clams
$ = w/ Wounded Lion
! = w/ The Sandwitches
So while we patiently await Com Truise’s July 5 debut release on Ghostly, I have news of yet another leak from this electro wonder. “Cathode Girls” has all the trimmings of that Miami Vice sound score that you manifested in your deepest DeLorean fueled dreams. Cathode Girls by Com Truise
Here’s Com Truise’s tour schedule with Glitch Mob and Phantogram.
June
27 Stockholm, SW DEBASER
29 Detroit, MI MOVEMENT
30 Detroit, MI TV BAR
July
02 Morrison, CO RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE
04 St. Louis, MO 2720 CHEROKEE
06 Dallas, TX TREES
07 Austin, TX LA ZONA ROSA
08 Houston, TX WAREHOUSE LIVE
09 New Orleans, LA REPUBLIC
12 Ft. Lauderdale, FL REVOLUTION
13 Tampa, FL CZAR
14 Orlando, FL THE BEACHAM THEATER
15 Atlanta, GA KING PLOW
16 Nashville, TN EXIT IN
17 Asheville, NC THE ORANGE PEEL
19 Charlottesville, VA JEFFERSON THEATER
20 Washington, D.C. 9:30 CLUB
21 Philadelphia, PA THEATER OF THE LIVING ARTS
22 New York, NY TERMINAL 5 (DJ Set)
23 Boston, MA PARADISE ROCK CLUB
24 Northampton, MA PEARL STREET
25 Burlington, VT HIGHER GROUND
27 Montreal, QC SAT
28 Toronto, ON 69 BATHURST
29 Buffalo, NY TOWN BALLROOM
30 Pittsburgh, PA REX THEATER
31 Cleveland, OH GROG SHOP
August
01 Cincinnati, OH 20TH CENTURY THEATER
03 Detroit, MI MAGIC STICK
04 Grand Rapids, MI INTERSECTION
We have received notice that Thieves Like Us are sharing their new single and video of “Your Love Runs Still,” courtesy of their Captured Tracks signing. You might like it and if you do, remember that the EP Your Love Runs Still will be available May 10 while the band records their proper LP in Lisbon.
Thieves Like Us, “Your Love Runs Still”
If the Goblin leak wasn’t enough swag to go around, the Boston Phoenix has just jumped on the hype train while fist pumping to chants of USA ad nauseum. Read all about it here.
